WHY HARD LUGGAGE CAN OFTEN BE A BETTER CHOICE THAN SOFT LUGGAGE
Like most people, I spend more time on social media than I should. I am reasonably successful at staying away from junk click-bait, but I can end up spending a lot of time reading about rider’s long-distance adventures. Mostly they are a celebration of the joys of adventure riding but occasionally there are posts that tell tales of mishaps on the trail and of recent I have read quite a few about the issues with soft luggage.
I would like to say for the record that here at Caribou Cases Europe we like soft luggage. They can be lightweight, weather resistant and extremely flexible. Soft luggage just looks right on hardcore off-road bikes and totally wrong on a big BMW GS – in my opinion. I really think they are ideal for trips where you are going to encounter trails that are super narrow where light weight and a slim profile are the difference between threading your way through the undergrowth or becoming part of it.
Like most things in life there are trade-offs, and soft luggage is no exception. Soft luggage has issues with security, so you need to either remove it when parked or empty it of valuable contents. It can also get a little unhygienic after a few days on the trail as most people know. You are going to smell bad. Accept that. Probably the biggest trade-off though is durability.
I follow the Trans Euro Trail (TET) group pages on Facebook ( (5) Trans Euro Trail (TET) | Facebook)and as it is summer as I write this there are several tales of luggage getting trapped in the rear wheel. Sometimes the rider is lucky and all they suffer is a torn buckle or a seam separates. Some riders are not so lucky, and their luggage straps wrap around the wheel, and they end up with destroyed luggage and spat off the bike. If you get to walk away from one of those events, then good for you but your luggage is going to be destroyed. Some of the soft luggage companies like Mosko Moto have excellent warranties for when these incidents occur. Probably for a reason.
At Caribou Cases Europe we specialize in hard luggage. Our customers are long range riders and are typically out on the road for weeks or months at a time and the destruction of their luggage can end a dream journey. In the event of an accident with soft luggage, torn fabric, missing straps and buckles can sometimes be replaced in the field – if you can find the right resources. Often this is not the case, and you will be forced to really improvise until you can replace the luggage – duct tape is your friend. Hard luggage like ours is designed to not be destroyed due to a tip over or incorrectly tied down strap. The polymer shells of our luggage not only bounce back from impact (unlike aluminium) but they are also inherently more abrasion resistant than soft fabric. The Caribou luggage does not have the snag points that are a feature of soft luggage. Trust me when I say that in the event of a crash, your Caribou luggage is going to survive far better than soft luggage. It is also not going to be the cause of your crash.
I appreciate that some will say that I am making a big claim, but I have some knowledge in this area. Caribou started out in Colorado in 2005 Caribou Luggage Systems , so we have over two decades of rider feedback to reference. Personally, I have 27 years’ experience with Pelican Products (Pelican | Cases, Flashlights, Coolers, and Travel Gear | Pelican known as Peli in Europe), the global leader in building equipment protection cases for military, fire, police and photography. Our customers trusted Pelican to protect their gear because often lives depended upon it. With confidence and pride, we cover our products with a lifetime guarantee that covers free replacement or repair of your luggage in the event of a crash. Does anyone else do that?
